What We Have Here is Failure to Communicate

My father-in-law is currently suffering from frontal lobe dementia – characterized under the Alzheimer’s umbrella of memory disorders. It’s a horrible disease that has robbed him of so many things. One of those things is the ability to communicate. In fact, since I’ve known my husband, I have never been able to have a conversation with his father. It’s strange to be physically around someone and not be able to develop a relationship with them. He was recently noted as being in stage 7 of this disease (the last stage) and is currently under hospice care - care that he could have qualified for long ago if the healthcare system was set up better for caregivers and families to communicate.

My father-in-law has a disease that robbed him of his ability to SPEAK. Can you imagine? But, because of the breakdown in communication among caregivers, he didn’t get the respectful care that he deserves. And because of our broken healthcare system, people DIE because of communication breakdowns.

The government has pumped millions of dollars into the healthcare industry to try and make it easier for hospitals to implement IT systems that help facilitate better communication. But, I have to ask, do we really need COMPUTERS to help us talk to each other?

Doesn’t that just seem a little, I don’t know, 1984ish? Brave New Worldish?

The airline industry has billions of dollars worth of technology, but at the end of the day, they needed to address the human culture of the industry in order to realize high reliability.

Organizations can implement world-class technology, but if your people can’t use it the right way, it’s a waste.

I don’t mean to sound like I don’t think technology makes an impact. I do. But it seems like everywhere I go and everything I read has something to do with technology being the “silver bullet” cure that the industry is looking for.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and argue that, no Regis, this ISN’T the final answer (ducking for cover). There are other things we need to do first.

I know there are some doctors and nurses out there that will share my enthusiasm. Because every unit, on every floor, of every hospital I have ever done work with, has created work arounds because the “technology” doesn’t always fit in their system of workflow.

Before we implement the technology, can we try and set up our hospitals to make it easier to communicate as HUMAN BEINGS? Because if you implement too soon, you can make things worse.

Unlike my father-in-law, some of us still have our faculties intact. It’s a shame that my mother-in-law could have gotten the help she desperately deserved a long time ago. It’s a shame that she turned to me last night and said, “I feel like the system failed him”. And frankly, I don’t think she cares if our hospitals are wired or not. She just wants to talk to someone who will help her take care of the person she’s loved for the past 40 years.

Talk to us. Talk to each other.

Is there anybody out there??

I believe in my work.

Claire